The year of 1096
signaled the beginning of the Crusades and
great changes in the Middle East. The Crusaders
established their own states in Palestine and Syria
and assisted East Roman (Byzantine) empire to draw
Seljuk Turks from some of her former Asian provinces...

In
the second quarter of the 13th century the South
Caucasus and Asia Minor faced the invasion of the
Mongols. By the year 1250, most of the area fell to
the Mongols including Georgia, all Armenian lands of
the South Caucasus and Central Anatolia.

An
independent Armenian Kingdom during the
early second millenium, the Armenian
presence in this Mediterranean coast region
had a large Armenian population until the
Armenian
Genocide
and the final expulsion of Armenians by the
forces of Mustafa
Kemal Atatürk...